Sunday, September 11, 2005

Missing an engineering release date can be a symptom of a larger problem

Ed Sim recounts a board meeting where they uncovered and analyzed why the product development team was missing its deadlines. The conclusion was that sales wasn't properly trained and was selling what they didn't have.

I've discussed the Enterprise Sales Learning Curve (ESLC) before on this blog. When we are working with clients analyzing their Product, Sales and Marketing readiness to find points of leverage where they could improve their readiness levels, there are usually a few high sensitivity areas. Often the ramp rate of new sales people, which is a function of training, and the ability of the product management and development team to learn from one another are two of the highest sensitivity areas in scaling the ESLC. I provided an update on the simulation tool we developed based upon input from Mark Leslie that is very effective at showing this dynamic.

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